Antitheft device which attach to an automobile steering wheel have been known heretofore, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,738,127 to Johnson. Such an antitheft device for attachment to a steering wheel of an automobile includes an elongated body member having a passage extending along an axis therethrough, an elongated rod member adapted to move in telescopic fashion in the passage way of the body member along the axis, opposed hooks for engaging the inside portion of the steering wheel and lock means associated with the body member engaging the rod within the passage for locking the rod within the passage for locking the rod member stationary with respect to the body member at any of a plurality of positions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,887,443 to Wang and U.S. Pat. No. 4,935,047 to Wu disclose two antitheft devices yet similar in construction. These devices include a rod-like bearing means slidably mounted in a transverse passageway of a housing means and having a tenon member attached to an end of the rod-like bearing means and arranged to be actuated between a locking position with the tenon member protruding into an annular groove in the circumference of a rod member, which is adapted to telescope freely within a body member, and an unlocking position with the tenon member withdrawn from annular groove and opposed vertical side walls between a locking member being controlled to position the tenon member in its locking or unlocking position.
While the antitheft devices described above are functional, they include several defects. For example, in order to block complete rotation of the steering wheel of a motor vehicle, each device has an extended portion resulting the device being too long in length to be carried in cabinet of the motor vehicle.